The ability to diagnose genetic disease has developed rapidly over the last 20 years. There are tests today which could reveal to some the likelihood of suffering in later life diseases to which they have a propensity. Disease conditions with currently available tests include cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease, Gaucher's disease, hemophilia, retardation, sickle cell anemia, Down's syndrome, and others.
While many gene-based applications are being used today in the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases, it is the area of predisposition testing that will provide the shift to disease prediction.
Information from parents and grandparents is seldom collected and preserved for use in genetic testing. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) matching has been used to identify missing people both living and dead.
The article of Richards et al. entitled, "Multiplex PCR Amplification From The CFTR Gene using DNA Prepared From Buccal Brushes/Swabs" Human Molecular Genetics, Vol. 2, No. 2, pps. 159-163 teaches the use of only two swabs in a professional atmosphere for screening genetic diseases and reports a failure rate of 5% in testing for the CFTR gene even when performed by health care professionals.
In many diseases, for example, prostatic cancers, it is recognized that there are three genes involved. Alzheimer testing involves at least four genes. It is further known that specific disease characteristics may be common for more than one disease. Therefore it is essential that a multiplicity of DNA samples are available in order to identify a disease. It is further essential that a large amount of DNA bearing material be stored because of degradation which can occur shortly before cryogenic storage. This is especially important since it may be impossible to obtain additional samples after the host has either disappeared or has been deceased for a long period of time.
Therefore, there exists a need for an effective system of collecting and preserving vital identifying or hereditary information about cell bearing specimens from family members. Such a system should be complete, convenient, easy to use at home without supervision and should be adapted to preserve cell bearing specimens for long periods of time without significant deterioration of the specimens.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,970 to Turner discloses one system for collecting and storing DNA specimens from living persons which includes storage of the specimens together with information in a freezer. However, the information is collected only from living parties and blood samples are used.
DNA is responsible for transmitting a person's hereditary characteristics. PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) technology can amplify a genetic blueprint a million fold as tiny segments of the human genomic DNA. DNA samples can be obtained by swabbing or scraping the inside of a cheek with a sterile swab.
DNA samples taken from skin or hair may be tainted with chemicals from hair sprays or body lotions so as to obscure the DNA reading.
It is understood that the term "inner cheeks" which is used herein refers to the cheek area as well as the portion of the mouth about the lips and is referred to as the buccal mucosa.